Marc Newson's Extraordinary
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
and the doctrinaire. Newson also rel- COUCH CLASS: MARC NEWSON’S ishes the risks inherent in working with delicate materials and make-or- EXTRAORDINARY FURNITURE LANDS break processes. Gagosian’s presentation in Gstaad ADVERTISING includes four cast-glass chairs made in IN GSTAAD 2017. Produced using a vast kiln at a fac- tory in a remote Czech village, they are comprised of pairs of hollow quarter- Few individuals have occupied the tive profile of the Apple Watch. Cen- made the element of unprecedented spheres, each richly colored upper territory shared by design and art tral to his practice is the making of surprise a hallmark. half resting on a cloudy, translucent with the conviction and original- innovative limited-edition furniture. This February, Gagosian will base that reflects and refracts its hue. ity of Marc Newson, for whom the This pursuit sprang initially from exhibit a group of Newson’s chairs, Exquisite objects in their own right, discipline of industrial design pres- Newson’s training as a jeweler – for lounges, desks, and tables from 2017 these distinctive seats offer a further ents a rich and endlessly renewable his thesis project at Sydney University, and 2019 at Switzerland’s Gstaad reminder of Newson’s immersion in opportunity to explore new ways of he presented a chair as an item of Airport, an appropriate site given craft, and hint at broader narratives thinking about form and function, jewelry because it was “worn” close his extensive work in transportation of historical research and timeless materials and production. Over the to the body – and his innovative and aerospace. Gagosian has exhibited beauty. The chairs also possess a bio- past thirty years, the Australian-born approaches to form, color, and texture Newson previously, in its New York, morphic quality in their suggestion of designer has applied his distinctive all originate from a jeweler’s embrace Hong Kong, and London locations, and eyes or sea creatures. While relatively vision and boundless technical acu- of imaginative detail. He also contin- this presentation will remind viewers simple in terms of final shape, they men to everything from watches and ues to use furniture as a platform for just how singular his vision is. His are nonetheless the results of extraor- footwear to concept cars and aircraft experimentation with new materials work emulating the unity and flow dinarily time-consuming production, interiors. “In the age of the specialist,” and production techniques. From the of natural forms, Newson also finds with each piece spending up to six writes author and journalist Nick iconic Lockheed Lounge (1986) – con- inspiration in errant scientific and months in the kiln. “It takes three Foulkes, “he is one of the last poly- structed from sections of aluminum natural histories, and in emergent and months to heat up to the right tempera- Marc Newson, Cloisonné Blue Chair, 2017, cloisonné enamel and copper, 26 ¹⁄8 × 40 ¼ × 37 ¼ inches maths.” Newson has worked with high- riveted together over a carved foam rarified technologies. His is not a prac- ture and then it takes another three (66.5 × 102.1 × 94.6 cm) © Marc Newson end and mass-market brands alike, interior in a striking fusion of the tice that aims to refine through re- months for the thing to cool down,” and has joined creative forces with mechanical and the organic – to 2006’s duction, but instead one for which Newson explains. “They’re then cut Finally, six further pieces in that allows each vital component to industry titans such as Jonathan Ive, Extruded Tables and Voronoi Shelf, unexpected and hybrid influences lead and finished by hand. They’re deeply, Gagosian’s space are united by New- retain its individual impact. This led former chief design officer at Apple, all of which were carved from single the way; it is contemporary precisely deeply labor-intensive.” The making is son’s use of Chinese cloisonné, an in- him to employ an algorithm, devel- for whom he helped craft the distinc- blocks of Carrara marble, Newson has in its elision of the programmatic a slow, transformative process that he tricate enameling technique that origi- oped at the designer’s London studio characterizes as “pure alchemy.” nated in the Mediterranean some three by his associate Nicolas Register, Installation view, Marc Newson, Gagosian, West 21st Street, New York, January 17–February 20, 2019. Artwork © Marc Newson Also on view in Gstaad are works thousand years ago before spreading which generates forms that approx- from the 2017 Murrina series, each in a to China around the fourteenth cen- imate the subtle irregularities of na- different format: a console, a desk, and tury. Involving the application of ture. Newson then reverse engineered a low table. Manufactured in accor- wire to create partitions, or cloisons, these precisely rendered structures dance with a classical Venetian glass- into which enamel is introduced, the to arrive at objects that were possible making technique – one that involves technique demands precise, meticu- to physically create. This way of con- heating and fusing glass rods before lous craftsmanship in order to avoid ceiving of and making concrete an slicing them to reveal patterned cross the potentially disastrous effects of idea is characteristic of Newson. As sections, refiring the resultant sheet, temperature variation. Constructed he admits to Foulkes, “I am my own and then slumping it over a mold – by hand and fired in a custom-made worst taskmaster because I set myself these pieces combine sleek outer oversize kiln in a factory outside seemingly impossible projects, com- surfaces with vivid internal color- Beijing, Newson’s copper chairs, plex technical things that I know will ation, again suggesting biological lounges, and desks boast distinctive be really challenging and have proba- inspiration in their resemblance to patterns – from interpretations of tra- bly never been done before. But that’s cellular structures. The low table in ditional Chinese floral motifs to his what makes it worthwhile for me. I particular was also inspired by Italian signature amoebic “orgone” design – certainly don’t want to do things that architect Carlo Scarpa’s glass dishes of that reveal his wide-ranging aesthetic have been done.” the 1930s and 1940s. In emulating such interests and love of striking color. small objects at a vastly inflated scale, Newson was careful, however, not Gagosian will present a group of pieces Newson aims to underscore the pecu- to make the cloisonné works’ forms by Marc Newson at the Gstaad Airport, liar qualities of the material, as well as too dominant, instead working toward Switzerland, 13 February – 20 March, the unpredictability of its treatment. a harmony between object and surface 2020. 1 GstaadLife 1 I 2020 GstaadLife 1 I 2020 2.